One note on the posted comments from the Pres of Alloy Access…I agree wholeheartedly with the majority of the article however I fear that it’s a slippery slope when painting all African Americans as Urban. That may not have been the intent, however all African Americans are not Urban.

Urban is a mindset…a consumer group that is defined by a psychographic, rather than a demographic. Granted, it has it’s roots in African American culture it’s arguable that the majority of consumers who define themselves as urban may be predominantly non-black.

Personally, over the past 12 months I’ve seen urban culture become more and more fragmented which may indicate a gradual shift in mindset or a change in how this segment defines “urban.”

Just a thought…

Cheers!

My concern is that whatever any of us choose to identify with or market to, the core value has to be honoring our core humanities.

Cultural sensitivity efforts have lead to increased tolerance and increased prejudice. The trick is to honor all the good in each culture, not honor the destructive, and move us all to greater tolerance for each other.

I am an old woman and I loved, worked with and cherished our youth for moving us further down the path to peace on earth. Thank those on Ypulse for furthering the quest for informed tolerance.

Urban isn’t about being centered in the inner city, though the “culture” often is there as well as other areas.

Multicultural seems to be some PC way of saying many races together. I hated this word in my educational classes. The word has nothing to do with culture and everything to do with race.

Apart from using words as nondiscursive symbols, these words are tired, misleading corporate words that I find useless. The people who use them I tend to, at best, wonder about them and, at worst, write them off completely. Sign me up for the abolish both petition.

The people who LIVE the lifestyle still identify with the term as long as you’re talking about urban inspired culture. To them, urban means city and that’s exactly where the styles originate.

This CULTURE as Richard accurately describes it transcends race, gender, and geography.

So, as RIchard said… as long as you’re targeting those interested in urban culture, you can call it Urban. They’ll get it.

Marketers and execs on the other hand may get uneasy, but #s talk. They’ll forget all about it if you show them significant viewership.

Most execs like terms like “youth” and “pop(ular)”. Ultimately most of them want to appeal to a broader audience that has money. Urban makes them feel like those people are broke.

I think naming the channel “Urban” is fine. You may want to “theme” the Marketing Mashup party “What’s Inspiring Youth Today” or “Popular Youth Culture,” cuz today, that’s what “Urban” culture has become.

Hope that helps. I’m always here if you need me. Peace and good luck.

Omer

I would suggest you watch the video that is linked below. It is a speech given by Tim Wise on January 8, 2009 in Pasadena, CA. Tim Wise is among the most prominent anti-racism writers and activists in the U.S., having given lectures in 48 different states, and on over 500 college campuses. He has trained a multitude of teachers, corporate employees, non-profit organizations and law enforcement officers in methods for dismantling racism in their institutions.

http://aschu.convio.net/videos/TWise090108City%20Conv.html

There is about 5 minutes of introduction by the hosts of the event but the speech is well worth listening to.

I offer this because regardless of what you think of the words “urban” or “multicultural”, race and racism are still issues to be dealt with in the US. I think this is certainly an issue marketers need to wrestle with.

As the internet and social networking has evolved, youth are more open to new groups, trends and lifestyles. I work with kids who one day show up in Sean John one day, Kenneth Cole the next and Diesel or street brands the next and listen to everything from Kayne to Katy Perry to FOB to Metallica.

Youth culture as a whole is diversified, but as a marketer you do need to break groups down in order to present them with the right products in the right places. Having an event for urban youth culture is fine by my standards as long as the topics presented are not solely targeted to one or 2 ethnicities that some major corporations believe this market to be.

Good conversation going here.

From a marketing perspective, anyone who participates in that culture would need to be targeted. To focus anything tied to the word “urban” to just a few minority groups is a mistake and would be incomplete because we all know that 1.) that urban areas are not populated with only these few minority groups and 2.) nor are they the only people who participate in urban culture.

In large cities like Los Angeles, you see people of all ethnic backgrounds participating in what we see as “urban” culture. So if your intent in using the term “urban” is to help people understand and better target ALL people participating in the culture then I would say it is fine. But if you are using the term to target just a few minority groups I would think that would be a mistake. You would probably miss many of the people in those minority groups and fail to target people from other groups who actually participate in urban culture.

Urban in the stereotypical sense is not comprehensive enough, nor is it thorough enough to truly help people tap into today’s internet-driven, multicultural society. There is too much variation of interest within ethnic groups and too much co-opting across ethnic-groups for us to use terms such as urban in order to describe only a few ethnic groups. We have to think about all ethnicities involved in the culture in order to maximize our reach. So my advice to you is to use the term – but use it to target urban CULTURE instead of using it to try to target the groups who have been stereotypically placed under the term’s umbrella. Good luck!